


Endings Can Be Good

by KaytheJay



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Cheating, Divorce, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23965768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytheJay/pseuds/KaytheJay
Summary: Patton and Deceit have it good. They couldn't be happier in their marriage. They have three wonderful children and a loving partner. However, it all goes haywire.
Relationships: Morality | Patton Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Kudos: 22





	Endings Can Be Good

Patton was in love. He couldn’t help it. He loved the mystery that was his husband, Janus. How he kissed him sweetly and was always supportive of everything that he ever wanted to do. Janus hadn’t been so sure about having kids, but now he was out back playing with their three children: Logan, Roman, and Remus. Or rather, he was playing princes and princesses with Roman and Remus while Logan was reading some book. Patton smiled. He didn’t think he could have it any other way.  
“Lemonade!” Patton called. Remus ran towards him in a Naruto-like way. Patton was barely able to dodge him as he came barreling towards him. Remus had his sucked down before anyone else was able to grab a glass. “Slow down,” Patton said sweetly. “You’re going to get a stomach ache.” Remus giggled and ran off again, excited to get to the next part in the game that they’d been playing. “Roman! You can’t take that glass out there! Stay up here with it,” Patton called after Roman. Roman slumped, spilling a little bit of his drink, but he did listen. Logan took his back to his chair and began reading again.  
Patton smiled as Janus approached him. He laid a kiss on Patton’s lips and put his arm around Patton’s waist. He sighed.  
“I don’t think it gets much better than this,” he said, smiling over at Patton. Patton nodded. It was true. There really was no getting better than this. He could say that the day the kids were born or the wedding were the happiest days in his life, but he knew that he’d be lying. Those were, of course, good days. And perhaps what made them good was knowing what they might lead to. It all leads to these sorts of days. Watching Remus hit a tree with a bat with shouts of it being a dragon, Roman tried to drink his lemonade fast so that he could once again join his twin, Logan being so wrapped up in his book that it seemed he forgot everyone else was even there.  
“I don’t think so either,” Patton said. “I mean just look at them, bonding and having fun.”  
“You know, the kids are distracted,” Janus whispered into Patton’s ear. “We could go have our own fun.” He wiggled his eyebrows. Patton playfully pushed Janus.  
“Oh stop,” Patton said. “You know how I feel about . . . about that while the kids are home. I just don’t want them to walk in.” Janus sighed but placed a kiss on Patton’s cheek anyway.  
“Alright, love,” Janus said. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” He put his empty glass back on the pizza pan that Patton had been using as a platter to carry the drinks out in the first place. Janus ran back out to Remus and scooped him up, causing Remus to let out a screech then melt into a puddle of giggles.  
“Here, Daddy,” Roman said, handing his own empty glass to Patton.  
“Thanks, kiddo,” Patton said before ruffling Roman’s hair as he ran to join Janus and Remus.  
***  
It was nearing midnight. Janus should have been home hours ago. Patton paced the living room, trying to calm himself. He spoke to himself in whispers because that usually helped him to feel better. He tried calling Janus again. Nothing. He sighed and sat down.  
This was the first time anything like this had ever happened. It wasn’t like Janus to just ignore his phone and stay out all night long. Especially not since they’d become parents. He usually called if something came up that would make him later than usual, but he didn’t this time. Luckily, Patton had put the kids to bed. He didn’t want them to worry just because his own anxieties were taking over.He slumped into the chair and put his head in his hands. What was going on with Janus?  
He heard the familiar sound of Janus’s car and he stood up as the brightness of his headlights drifted into the room. The car was off for a few minutes before Janus finally came inside.  
“Where were you?” Patton said, rushing over to Janus, pulling him into a hug. Janus bit his lip as he tried to come up with a lie. He didn’t want to lose or to hurt Patton. And in order to do that, he had to bite his tongue and not tell the truth.  
“I uh,” but what would be enough to tell Patton? What would throw him off the track. “I got caught up at work. I would have called but uh,” He held up his phone. It had only died a few minutes ago, but Patton didn’t need to know that. He watched Patton to see if he believed him or not.  
“Alright,” Patton said, though he wasn’t sure that he fully believed Janus. He hated to admit that. Janus had been by his side for nearly twenty years now, never had he ever done anything to warrant Patton’s mistrust. But tonight, Patton felt like he was being lied to. Instead of confronting Janus, however, Patton decided it was best for the two of them to just get to bed. It was, after all, past midnight. They both needed to sleep before the rush that would be tomorrow morning would happen. Having little boys was always exhausting.  
***  
It started happening more often. It started as a once a month thing. Janus just disappearing for a night and not telling Patton where he was really going. It was hard on Patton because he knew that Janus had to be lying, but he didn’t have the proof. Janus’s phone was always dead, Patton couldn’t get in touch with him.  
Then the arguments started. At first, they were able to keep it from the kids. Arguing only in whispers or after the kids had fallen asleep. But that didn’t last long. A few times, Logan got up to get a drink and his dads were in the living room speaking angrily to each other. Logan didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Maybe they were just in a rough patch. But the more often he came down to find his parents arguing, the more he realized that it probably wasn’t just a rough patch.  
He didn’t want to have to inform his little brothers of this. It wasn’t fair to them if they didn’t know that their dads were arguing almost daily, but he didn’t want them to be thrown off when it inevitably happened that their parents could no longer keep it together for them. He knew that they were trying, which was why he’d found them arguing in the living room at night, often ending with Janus sleeping on the couch, rather than in broad daylight where they would easily be heard by the children.  
Of course, Roman and Remus didn’t believe. Logan hadn’t expected them to. They were still young, just eight years old. Logan didn’t quite believe it himself, and he’d actually seen it. He really couldn’t blame his brothers for it. They’d grown up in a world where their parents had always shown a good example of what a relationship should be. Always supportive, always loving, always apologising when they were wrong. A world that everyone should get to grow up in. But Logan knew that their little world was falling apart.  
The children started getting sent to Uncle Virgil’s (he wasn’t actually their uncle, just a close friend of Patton’s) house a lot. Once a week for an hour or two. Logan thought his parents were trying couple’s therapy. They’d been together for so long that he just knew that they had to work out in the end. There was no reason that they wouldn’t. They’d made it this far in their relationship, why wouldn’t they be going further? Logan couldn’t even imagine the world where his parents split up. It just wouldn’t happen. They were his parents. He shouldn’t be worried. But he was. There was that little voice in the back of his head that said that his parents were getting a divorce. He chose to ignore this little voice.  
***  
“I don’t know if I can take this anymore, Virge,” Patton said one day. Janus had taken the kids out for a Daddy J day. Patton had let him because it gave him time to talk to Virgil. He hadn’t been able to speak to Virgil about this much since it had started and it was really starting to bug him.  
“What do you need me to say?” Virgil asked, genuinely unsure of how Patton wanted him to react. Patton shrugged.  
“I don’t know,” Patton said. “I think that Janus might be cheating, but I don’t have any solid proof.” Virgil didn’t react. He knew at this point that Patton just wanted him to listen, so he listened. “He’s gone almost all the time anymore. The only time I actually end up seeing him is when I drag him to therapy. But even then, he doesn’t bother to show up to that much anymore.” Patton shook his head as tears stung his eyes. Virgil stood up and went to the kitchen to bring out the plate of cookies he’d made. He’d started baking more with the whole Janus situation going on. Cookies wouldn’t solve everything, but they momentarily let Patton get his mind on something else.  
“From the sound of it,” Virgil said, “it might be time to start considering divorce.” Patton froze. He didn’t like the idea of that.  
What about the children? He didn’t want them to grow up in a broken home. None of them deserved that. Having divorced parents was just about the worst thing you could do to them. There would always be part of them that felt as if the divorce was their fault and it just wasn’t right to consider.  
At the same time, it would be worse to have them grow up in a home where their parents couldn’t get along. Forever getting pawned on Virgil in order for them to go to therapy that clearly wasn’t working. Janus no longer wanted to put the effort into the relationship that he once had. Patton was starting to feel as if it was a waste of time to even try anymore. He sighed.  
Virgil was right. It was high time that they started considering a divorce.  
***  
A few months later, Janus and Patton sat their kids down in the living room. Logan didn’t like the look of this, but Roman and Remus were none the wiser. Patton and Janus had brought in two chairs from the kitchen so they could all talk face to face.  
“We love you very much,” Janus started. “I . . . no we just want you to know that this has nothing to do with you.” Logan knew where this was going. He shook his head as tears burned his eyes.  
“This was a hard choice to make,” Patton said. “But we have decided that it is what is best for us, and it is what is best for you. Ok?” Logan wrapped himself into a self-hug trying to soothe himself. “Your father and I . . . we’ve decided to get a divorce.” Everyone stayed silent. No one knew how to react. Logan turned his face because he didn’t want to show that he was crying, but he also didn’t want to miss anything of what might come to be of the conversation. Janus took a deep breath.  
“I have gotten a nearby apartment and will be starting the process of moving in this afternoon.” He leaned forward and smiled. “Don’t think of this as a bad thing,” Janus said. “In fact, this is a very good thing.” He put his hand on Logan’s knee and squeezed. “It is going to be hard at first,” Janus continued, “But we will make this work.”  
***  
Within only a few months, the twins had already forgotten what it was like to have parents that were together. They were loving having their dads being separated. It meant double the toys and double the clothes and double the everything. For Logan, it took longer to get settled. However, after a year had passed, he realized that this was, in fact, the good thing that his parents had promised. They were no longer dealing with the stress of having to hide their downfall from their kids, and in fact were working together even better apart than they had been before.  
As for Patton and Janus, they, too, were happier apart. It took them longer to grieve the relationship than it had their children because it had been good. They’d had seventeen years of having a good relationship, married for fifteen of those years. But they just couldn’t do it anymore. Janus had stopped putting forth effort to keep up the relationship months before the fighting had started because he’d started to feel like he wasn’t important to Patton at all. Patton had been putting too much focus on the kids. Which was why he’d felt the need to cheat on his husband. He hated it, and looking back he knew he should have just talked it out with Patton instead of going off. But hindsight is 20/20.  
But with this timeline, the divorce was the very best thing they could have done. Neither one of them would have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Hits and kudos mean the world to me. Comments fuel me into next week.   
> Find me on Tumblr @logansfalsehood


End file.
